Some thoughts along the way

Month: September 2011

Our team is meeting next Tuesday after staff meeting to put together our calendar for 2012.

It’s still September, it seems crazy to be planning that far in advance but, hey we may be crazy.

This is what I know about Church life: it’s crazy busy. To complicate things more, every other part of life is busy as well.

If we don’t take time to plan our calendar to ensure that the various ministries of the church won’t be competing and struggling for time, then we will only add frustration to our leaders, the people who serve at these various events, and the people who would love to go to events but are unable to do so because they can’t decide, or they just participated in 4 events and now they are totally burned out.

I have learned that the church needs to be willing to protect our members’ time. Church people are willing to sacrifice their evenings, and their free time to come and help the church. Which is awesome. And they do this because they agree with the mission and the vision of the church. I love this. But if I don’t think about their calendar then I will burn them out.

Last night Kathy and I had an important conversation about our calendar over the next few weeks. We are busy people. If Kathy and I are busy right now, I can only imagine the other families who are much busier. By planning 2012 in September 2011 we are trying to ensure that we are not over committing our leaders and volunteers, because more important than attendance at our events is that we are are helping people discover, trust and love Jesus Christ. We need to make sure that our calendar doesn’t get in the way of that.

There are certain events that you will always remember. Where we were on 9/11 is one of those. 10 years ago today I was living in the dorms and NU and my friend Russ told me about a plane crashing into the world trade center. I didn’t believe him. When I turned on the TV I was horrified at what I saw. Those images are forever etched in my mind. It is a day of tragedy and mourning, and also a day of incredible heroism. It was perhaps the worst day in America, that also showed us the best of America as people rallied to support, help, and rescue. Ten years goes pretty quickly and It’s easy to lose sight of the things we’ve learned.

Another movement that you never forget is the birth of your child. Joss was born three years ago today. She is so precious and beautiful. Her birth was an emergency C-section, and I was terrified that I could lose her and Kathy. It truly could have been a day that would have been the greatest tragedy in my life. The doctors were great though and by the mercy of God, Joss and Kathy both made it through. And now on 9/11 I have a really hard time mourning. What was once one of the worst days of my life, has now become one of the best days of my life.

Joss I love you so much. Happy Birthday! Thanks for bringing light into our world on what could be a very dark day.

That’s usually my first response as well. And we say we are doing nothing because we don’t think that we are doing anything important or worth talking about.

My kids think that everything they are doing is important and every errand is an adventure. I don’t know if that’s actually healthy, but I want them to appreciate every moment of their day and to be on the look out for adventure.

Are we looking for adventure? Are we looking for the good stories? Or are we just going through the day not really doing anything that we are excited about or that we even find interesting?